Oklahoma Stunned in Final Visit to Kansas
LAWRENCE, KS — Mistakes, delays, bad weather and just bad football plagued Oklahoma throughout Saturday's shocking loss at Kansas.
Not even a defensive interception in the final 2 1/2 minutes with a one-point lead could prevent the unbeaten Sooners from stumbling through their first loss.
The No. 6-ranked Sooners were sent into the loss column when Kansas marched down the field almost uncontested in the closing minutes, then hung on for one last defensive stop to beat the Sooners 38-33 on Saturday at Kansas Memorial Stadium.
After OU defensive end Ethan Downs plucked Jason Bean's pass out of the chilly air with 2:29 to play, it looked like the Sooners would prevail in yet another close game.
But the Jayhawks stopped the clock with three timeouts and the Sooners punted into the end zone, giving KU life.
Bean then completed 3-of-4 passes for 67 yards, and Devin Neal's 9-yard touchdown run made it a five-point game and set up the Sooners' final desperate drive.
Gabriel threw a 39-yard deep ball to Brenen Thompson to get in scoring position, but OU's offense couldn't get into the red zone as Gabriel's final throw from the 23-yard line with three seconds to play fell incomplete and out of the end zone, touching off a royal blue mosh pit at midfield that commemorated years of torment at the hands of the Sooners and resulted in destruction for the south goal post.
It's OU's first loss to Kansas since 1997. The Sooners had beaten the Jayhawks 18 times in a row, most of those not even close.
But for four quarters, this one was more than close.
Tawee Walker rushed for a career-high 146 yards, Gabriel made up for an off day throwing by rushing for three touchdowns, but the Sooners still couldn't avoid a catastrophic upset.
Playing in lousy weather, Gabriel finished just 11-of-13 for 109 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. The Sooners found their ground game as they rushed for 264 yards, but they couldn't survive one final KU possession.
In a game delayed 58 minutes by lightning midway through the second quarter and slowed by sporadic rain and sub-30-degree wind chills, the No. 6-ranked Sooners (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big 12) met their match in plucky Kansas (6-2, 3-2).
OU trailed 14-0 at the outset but seemed to take control in the second quarter as the Sooners surged back from the lightning delay with a thunderous running game that produced three touchdowns and a 21-17 halftime lead.
But offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and the offense got away from that physical, punishing ground attack, and the second half went back-and-forth as the teams traded points.
Kansas nearly broke the tug-o-war when the Jayhawks followed a touchdown run by Moore native Daniel Hishaw — which gave the Jayhawks a 32-27 lead with 12:25 to play — by skying a deep bloop onside kick that Marcus Stripling couldn’t catch. KU recovered but Kansas kicker Seth Keller sailed his 42-yard field goal wide right.
That fumbled kickoff was only the third-most costly error by the Sooners in the game, with a curious fumble in the third quarter and a KU pick-six in the first quarter.
After recapturing the momentum in the third quarter, instead of continuing to pound the KU defense with power runs by Tawee Walker, Lebby called for a handoff up the middle to wide receiver Jalil Farooq, who was hit hard by a KU defender and dropped the football.
On the next play, Bean took a sprint draw 38 yards untouched for a touchdown and a 26-21 lead.
The Sooners answered with another drive engineered by power running and a 39-yard pass over the middle from Gabriel to Drake Stoops. Gavin Sawchuk’s short touchdown run pushed Oklahoma in front 27-26 with 35 seconds left in the quarter, setting up the wild fourth quarter.
The game couldn’t have started any worse for OU as Gabriel’s short throw to Farooq was intercepted in the right flat and returned 37 yards for a touchdown.
Another critical error came with 2:47 left in the game, when Bean threw the football right into Key Lawrence’s hands, but Lawrence dropped it, allowing the KU possession to continue. That was wiped out two plays later by Downs' pick.
The OU defense took a different kind of hit against the Jayhawks as linebacker Danny Stutsman went down with a left leg injury. He tried to return but had to leave again after just one play. His injury wasn’t disclosed and his status is unknown.
